Nickle cases anyone reload them?

[Buzzsaw]

I remember WAY back in the day when Speer sold loaded ammo, they came in nickel cases. When I reloaded them, the necks would split after 1 or two loadings. How about the Federal Terminal Accent nickel cases? Should I keep them or chunk-em?

 

[Southern 62]

Wondering the same thing. Haven't shot anything with them yet. Save or chunk the brass? Hope some will chime in.

 

[MagnumManiac]

Personally, I will not reload nickel cases.
I was given 5 boxes of Federal 338WM Safari Grade ammo with 250g Partition in 1989/1990 and took them on a Water buffalo hunt here in Northern Australia. Sighting in, hunting and mucking around sent 15 shots of one box into 5 Water buffalo and the rest into targets and some pigs.
When I returned, I proceeded to resize those cases and noticed that the necks looked terrible afterwards, sized some brass cases and the necks looked terrible on them too…hmmmm, I thought this is strange.
Long story short, those nickel cases ruined my die by scratching it to hell and back. Never again.
I also noticed that some of the nickel plate had come off the necks on 4 cases, so I assume that's what wrecked my die.

Cheers.

 

[Bucklowery]

I have reloaded Winchester and had no problems at all even with 300wsm
Reload away

Thanks

Buck

 

[Critter Picker]

When I first started loading ammo, I knew very little about anything,started my handgun adventures with a .357. Bought a set of dies, knew nothing about carbide dies. Loaded quite a few boxes of .38 spcl old brass cases without a problem. Got some with nickle plated cases,when I sized the first couple I noticed some lines on the cases,as I kept going there were more and more lines. They were scratched and so was the die. Like Magnummaniac said earlier die was ruined also. Got carbide die,problem solved. Never even tried to load a bottle necked nickle case. They went straight into the junk brass pail, then to the scrap yard.

 

[LVJ76]

Have used them for over 30 years. Started in the 80's with Federal 308 Win Nickel brass necked down to 7mm-08.

My wife uses Winchester nickel brass on her 7mm-08 for a couple of loads.

I use some Federal on a load of my 7mm-08, and on a load on my 7mm Rem Mag

Federal is decent, if a bit of the plating comes off then I toss them. But Winchester is way better, got it from the Winchester Supreme line of ammo.

 

[Ckgworks]

I guess I've been lucky.......I actually use a fair amount of nickel plated brass, especially for wildcats which i have and shoot the parent cartridge.....all my K hornet brass is nickel, standard hornet is brass. 250 Savage is brass, 250AI is nickel. I have a few 444 wildcats and use nickel to differentiate between cartridges at a glance. I've never had a issue yet. I do cull out any cases that have flaking nickel but even that's rare. Don't know what to tell you, your milage will vary! If anyone is throwing away nickel brass, you can send it my way!

 

[Mike D Texas]

I've loaded a pile of nickel plated brass with no issues. I've annealed in in my amp annealer as well.

 

[ARlife4me]

Nickel plated isn't the best option as godd brass plated or not will very. It might not last as many reloads as brass only will, but sure is pretty all polished up! Straight wall is tougher on the mouth from belling ad it'll flake. When you get good plating you better keep it! I reload nickel in 45-70, 357sig, 9mm (+p), 10mm and 44mag. I had some black nickel in 10mm and it was horrible!

 

[VinceMule]

Win Ni brass has been good for me, 280, 7 Mag, 270 Win, and some Remington in 7 Mag.

I still shoot Ni brass in Speer and Win in 9mm, 40 S&W, and 45 ACP.

A reloader can not be asleep at the switch. Inspect your cases. Over the years, you will find that some lot numbers of brass are subpar, Ni-plated or not.

Magnum's observation on Ni plated brass scratching dies is spot on. I found that the Ni plating on some lot# of brass is thinner than other lot#. So, I rotate the brass in my fingers to feel for "snags" in the plating.

So, why deal with Ni brass? Because you got it cheap, or it is the only thing you can find in the caliber you are shooting.

 

[Ol' Red]

I have reloaded some nickel-plated brass in the past and had no problems with it. It was Winchester brass in .300 WM. Jump forward several years and I had some .41 Mag brass that was nickel-plated. I was sizing a batch when I noticed some lines the full length of the brass. I stopped and cleaned the sizing die, thinking that I just was just dirty. It continued to scratch several more rounds. I started looking closer at the sized brass and found two that had flaked some plating off at the neck.

I sent the dies to Hornady to see if they could be repaired. They did polish them and sent them back to me, with two resized rounds of brass.

I tossed that batch of brass in the recycle box. I am still reloading some old Speer nickel brass in .357 mag for about the fifteenth time but tend to inspect them pretty close. I would advise you clean the cases good before sizing and inspect them for any flaking at the neck and toss them at the first sign

 

[Husky user]

I have reloaded both Federal and Winchester nickel plated brass 300 Win Federal 7MM Rem Winchester!
Both for hunting loads,maybe once or twice for each.
Now shooting Federal Terminal Ascent plated brass ,first time around.
No problems yet!

 

[Mike6158]

I reloaded my 7mm Rem Mag nickel plated brass cases at least a dozen times before they started failing. I annealed them. Never lost a neck. The case and finally started to show signs of separating at the base and primer pockets would sho signs of leaking by. The only problem I have now is finding new stock.

 

[Greyfox]

I reloaded the 270WSM(Winchester nickel plated) years ago when the cartridge was introduced. They worked OK but were only good for a few reloads before signs of neck and case head splitting would appear. The nickel was very hard on sizing dyes as well. I did not experience these issues using all brass Winchester cases.